San Bernardino Valley College men’s soccer team falls short in SoCal final

The San Bernardino Valley College men’s soccer team, playing in its first California Community College Athletic Association Southern California title game, lost 2-1 on Saturday to Santa Ana College.

“One play, one mistake and he got it,” SBVC coach Josh Brown said. “They came down and got that goal and that was it.”

Santa Ana’s Leonardo Contreras controlled a missed clearance attempt by SBVC’s back line and scored midway through the second overtime period for the Dons (16-4-4 overall), who move on to play at Consumnes River College next week in a CCCAA state semifinals.

“Two great teams; that’s why we’re here at this stage of the season,” Santa Ana coach Jose Vasquez said. “It was a great game. It went back and forth. We just kept pressing.”

The Wolverines (13-4-6), which beat Santa Ana 3-2 in a non-conference game on Sept. 10, trailed 1-0 at halftime after the Dons’ Luis Venegas scored in the 12th minute.

SBVC played with much more energy and confidence in the second half, however, creating chance after chance until Fontana High alum Alfonso Cano tied the score with a one-timed left-footed shot.

Tensions rose as the game reached full time tied 1-1, and after a scoreless 15 minutes of extra time, the teams were preparing for the shootout when Contreras found the ball at his feet and fired a shot that flew into the upper right corner of the net.

“They’re the only team that beat us at home this season, so we knew what to expect,” Vasquez said. “We weathered the storm, we prepared for that and we found a goal at the end.”

Sophomore Alex Turkson, who had a goal and an assist in SBVC’s 2-0 victory over Oxnard College in the SoCal semifinals, went from forward to midfield to defense to propel his team in the final five minutes before producing a deft cross into the goal area that was narrowly mis-timed by a teammate.

Turkson controlled the tempo in the second half for the Wolverines, touching the ball 15 times and connecting on 12 of 15 pass attempts.

“You could tell that they veered away from their style. We tried to push but it was just an unfortunate bounce,” said Turkson, who won a CIF-Southern Section title in 2011 as a senior at Valley View High in Moreno Valley.

Turkson was one of only four sophomores on the SBVC roster, and Brown expects the team to reach even greater heights next season.

“It won’t be a building year. It should be an ‘up’ year for us,” Brown said. “We’re going to take that and be excited about next year.”